This invention relates generally to protective devices and more particularly to an athletic shin guard designed to protect against impact injuries to the lower leg.
It has been long been the practice of athletes in a variety of sports to protect themselves against injury by wearing soft or rigid pads or guards about particular body parts which might be subject to impact. In soccer, for example, shin guards have been popular to protect against bruising injuries to the lower leg or breakage of the tibia or shin bone.
Early shin guards were simply single pads placed within the socks of athletes at the front of the lower leg adjacent the tibia bone. In most sports, however, injury was just as likely to occur to the sides of the lower legs as to the front. Thus, contoured pads were developed which covered not only the front of the shin but the sides as well.
One such contoured pad is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,026 to Pierce, Jr. The Pierce, Jr. patent discloses a tubular pad of elastomeric fabric having three stitched pockets which when worn about the lower leg or forearm, would grant protection over 180 degrees, namely the front and sides of the tubular pad. Each of the pockets are filled with a polymeric foam. The front pocket also contained extra protection in the form of a plurality of rigid plastic strips running lengthwise down the outside of the front pocket. Though still bulky, this tri-pad system offers improved flexibility to reduce any restriction of movement of the wearer. Still, the Pierce, Jr. protective pad does not contain rigid supports along the sides to fully protect the lower leg from side impacts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,913 to Hendry discloses a protective guard having a rigid support on the sides as well as the front of the guard running almost the full length of the tibia bone. The side panels of the Hendry guard are symmetrically disposed about the front panel along the entire vertical length of the front panel much like the Pierce, Jr. pad. Each panel has an outer rigid surface to protect the wearer against sharp impacts and a padded inner surface which rests adjacent a wearer's leg to provide cushion and comfort In use, the guard is meant to be removably placed within a pocket defined within an elastic sleeve which is then to be worn about the lower leg. This design offers improved protection over Pierce, Jr. in that both the medial and lateral sides of the lower leg are protected from impact.
Lateral and frontal lower leg protection is particularly important in soccer where the athlete is subjected to tremendous lower leg impact. The frontal protection protects against kicks or slides to the shin bone, which can even cause fractures. The lateral side is also at risk to injury in soccer. Soccer players are frequently kicked or slid into along the lateral side during play as a result of a tackle or play for the ball. The same lower leg impacts can occur in sports such as field hockey, street hockey and American football to name a few. The Hendry guard sufficiently protects the lower leg from such traumas from the front and sides in these sports. The problem with this design is that it reduces mobility since the side panels restricts the expansion and contraction of the calf muscle as the wearer runs or cuts from side to side. This is a particular problem in these sports since quickness and agility are at a premium.
Accordingly, a need remains for an shin guard which offers protection to the front and sides of the lower leg while maximizing mobility of the leg, namely offering reduced restriction of the expansion and contraction of the calf muscle.